By L.A. Williams, Correspondent
Christian Action League

RALEIGH — Wake County and the City of Apex have decided they will no longer spend taxpayer money to help fund employees’ elective abortions, and Columbus County may be next to limit coverage to those procedures deemed medically necessary.

“Thank God and thanks to pro-life citizens for speaking out,” said the Rev. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League. “We hope more and more folks will hold their local officials accountable on this issue.”

Apex made the change last month with Mayor Keith Weatherly saying that the move put the town in line with federal standards. The Wake County Manager announced more recently that elective abortion would no longer be covered for county employees. Rep. Paul Stam (R-Wake) had brought the matter to the attention of Commissioner Tony Gurley and later mailed a letter to County Attorney Scott Warren reminding him of a 29-year-old N.C. Supreme Court ruling on the matter.

In that case — Stam v. State — the court held that “Wake County lacked statutory authority when it appropriated funds to pay for ‘medically unnecessary’ abortions for indigent women,” the letter said. Read the rest of this entry »

By L.A. Williams, Correspondent
Christian Action League

RALEIGH — The state’s controversial plan to teach U.S. History students an abbreviated version of our nation’s past may now be history itself.

Dr. Rebecca Garland, the N.C. Department of Public Instruction’s chief academic officer, told state leaders this week that a second proposal is already in the works and high on the list would be the idea of splitting the course into two: one that would cover the years up to 1877 and another from 1877 to present. The announcement follows the DPI’s receipt of more than 7,000 e-mails protesting the initial draft, which called for U.S. History class to pick up with 1877.

“I’m looking forward to taking that draft off the Web site,” Garland told the Education Legislative Joint Committee on Tuesday, describing the option as “dead on arrival.” Read the rest of this entry »

Rev. Mark H. Creech, Executive Director
Christian Action League

A couple of events in the last two weeks have been interesting, yet mainly disturbing. Last week, U.S. District Judge James A. Beaty, Jr. ruled that Forsyth County Commissioners’ policy of opening meetings with prayer violates the First Amendment. Beaty ruled the prayers were an “unconstitutional establishment of religion.” This week, Asheville considered whether to provide same-sex partner employment benefits. One of the major arguments in favor of the proposal was “personal religious views are not a valid basis for denying some municipal employees the benefits that are provided to other employees.”

Such assertions are based on a skewed understanding of the “separation of church and state.” The Founders provision of the First Amendment was largely to protect religious rights. Its purpose was to keep government on the Federal level from interfering with religious practices and to prevent the establishment of a national religion. But today this great civil right has been turned completely around to oust religious influence from the public square. Read the rest of this entry »

By L.A. Williams, Correspondent
Christian Action League

RALEIGH — It is rare when an organization raises the ire of conservatives and liberals; blue collar workers and business executives; not to mention university professors and soccer moms. But the Department of Public Instruction seems to have managed to do so with proposed curriculum standards that would cut more than two centuries of the nation’s history out of high school coursework. What remains to be seen is whether the furor that has generated hundreds of phone calls and e-mails and a 4,500-member facebook group (History Did Not Begin in 1877) will be a flash in the pan or a lasting movement to truly influence what happens in the classroom. Read the rest of this entry »

By L.A. Williams, Correspondent
Christian Action League

ASHEVILLE — Within a month the Asheville City Council may approve a plan to extend employment benefits, including health insurance, to the partners of homosexual workers. Council voted 4-2 Tuesday (Feb. 9) to have staff take a look at how much the move would cost and give a recommendation on March 9.

“We would hope that any research about health costs would reveal the truth about this high-risk lifestyle,” said the Rev. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League. “Even if it didn’t cost taxpayers a penny, it would still be wrong. But studies clearly show that people who practice these types of sexual behaviors put themselves at greater risk for a number of illnesses.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced late last summer that AIDS is 50 times more prevalent among men who have sex with men than the rest of the population. A 2007 study showed homosexual men with HIV are 90 times more likely to develop anal cancer than others. And even the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association admits that lesbians have higher risks for cervical cancers and obesity and use more tobacco and illicit drugs than do other women. Further, a 2008 study in the United Kingdom showed homosexuals are 50 percent more likely to suffer from depression.  Read the rest of this entry »

By L.A. Williams, Correspondent
Christian Action League

Video poker promoters pushing so-called “sweepstakes” machines that circumvent state law may soon find themselves violating local zoning rules as municipalities across the state crack down on the growing number of gaming parlors.

On Monday (Feb. 8) Rocky Mount City Council approved a 60-day moratorium on new gaming parlors and ordered the planning board to set up rules for the businesses to be implemented by April 9. Kinston City Council passed a similar moratorium late last month.

“Obviously we’d prefer statewide legislation that would close the loophole allowing these virtual gambling machines to exist; but until the video poker ban can be patched, we’re thrilled to see municipal governments stepping up to set some limits,” said the Rev. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League. “That’s local government protecting local folks.” Read the rest of this entry »

Contact the North Carolina Department of Instruction
By L.A. Williams, Correspondent
Christian Action League

RALEIGH — A proposal to teach high schoolers an abbreviated version of U.S. history — one that starts in 1877 — has phones ringing off the hook and e-mail inboxes overflowing at the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

“We are glad to see people urging our education officials to rework this misguided proposal,” said the Rev. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League. “An even greater benefit of the uproar will be if those folks continue to monitor suggested curricula in each subject and speak out with constructive criticism whenever it misses the mark.”

The proposed “essential standards” for history would have sixth-graders focusing on World Civilizations (Beginning of Human Society to the mid 1700s); seventh-graders studying State, Nation and World (1600s to early 1970s) and eighth-graders concentrating on The Global Community (1950s to present). Read the rest of this entry »

By Tami Fitzgerald
Christian Action League

The fate of whether gay couples are allowed to adopt children in North Carolina is in the hands of the North Carolina Supreme Court, which has decided to review a lower court decision that sanctions adoption by same-sex couples.  Even though it was not required to review the unanimous decision of the three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals in the case of Boseman v. Jarrell, the Court granted a Petition for Discretionary Review filed by the biological mother of the minor child, Melissa Jarrell.  The child’s biological mother asked the Court to declare void the adoption of her biological child by her former lesbian partner, State Senator Julia Boseman (D-New Hanover), and to grant her sole custody of the child.

At the same time, the Court granted a motion filed by the Christian Action League (CAL), The American College of Pediatricians, the N.C. Family Policy Council, NC4Marriage, and the Christian Family Law Association for Leave to File an Amicus Curiae (friend of the Court) Brief.  Asked to comment on the case by the Associated Press, Rev. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League, said: Read the rest of this entry »

By Tami Fitzgerald
Christian Action League

In a case challenging the Forsyth County Commissioners’ policy of opening meetings with prayer, U.S. District Judge James A. Beaty, Jr. ruled that the policy violates the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  Judge Beaty’s ruling adopts recommendations made earlier by Magistrate P. Trevor Sharp that frequent and specific references to “Jesus, Jesus Christ, Christ, Savior, or the Trinity” in the prayers make the policy unconstitutional.   He ruled that such prayers “display a preference for Christianity over other religions by the government” which is an unconstitutional establishment of religion.  Beaty’s ruling says that the Forsyth policy “has resulted in Government-sponsored prayers that advance a specific faith or belief and have the effect of affiliating the Government with that particular faith or belief.”   Forsyth County argued that censoring the prayers offered by citizens/clergy would result in an unconstitutional abridgement of those citizens’ First Amendment rights to free speech. Read the rest of this entry »

Your contributions are needed now!
By L.A. Williams, Correspondent
Christian Action League

A restaurant owner advertises for a waitress, interviews applicants and makes a hire only to be hauled into court by a lesbian who claims that by hiring someone else he discriminated against her based on her sexual orientation. Right now the claim wouldn’t get very far here in an “Employment-at-Will” state. But if homosexual activists have their way, special protections for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) people will be written into North Carolina employment laws.

Having already gotten “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” into the so-called “bullying bill” passed last year, Equality North Carolina has announced it will take aim at employment laws and that it has received more than $70,000 in grants for 2010 to help pave the way — news that makes fund-raising at the Christian Action League all the more urgent. Read the rest of this entry »